Bmw what is idrive

This was the first in a series of improvements that have continued in to the current day, helped by the fact that smartphones mean we're all now comfortable with a screen-based interface.

Now, the entry-level BMW 1 Series is blessed with an infotainment system that is vastly superior to what we first saw in One feature has consistently remained throughout this development, though — the iDrive control.

It's a scroll wheel that sits between the front seats of your BMW, a fixed point that's much easier to use as you bump down the road than a touchscreen that needs a sniper-like steady hand to navigate efficiently. But how exactly do you operate iDrive, what features are hidden in its menus, what problems might you encounter and what lies in iDrive's future?

Read on for the answers to all those questions. At its very simplest level, you operate BMW iDrive using the scroll wheel control on your BMW's centre console, however the introduction of touchscreens and pads, gesture controls and voice commands mean the scroller is just one of many ways to operate the infotainment screen.

The iDrive scroll wheel remains the central pillar of how you control your BMW, however, and it's easy to see why. If you've ever tried to operate a touchscreen while you're driving — glancing from the road to the screen to the road again — while simultaneously holding your left and most peoples' weaker hand dead steady as you jiggle down the road, you'll know how infuriatingly tricky it can be.

The iDrive solves all of these problems. The fixed control never moves and because it has a physical form to hold onto, it's easy for your hand to reach for as your driving. Meanwhile, its fixed menus are like the railway tracks to a touchscreen's winding country road — it's impossible to fall off them with an errant finger tap. The scroll wheel is multi functional. So, as well as spinning like a volume knob — to scroll up and down a bank of menus — it moves forward, backwards, left and right so you can quickly jump between menu hubs.

Meanwhile, pressing down selects what you're hovering over, like left-clicking on a computer's mouse. Clustered around the iDrive control you'll find good old fashioned buttons. They allow you to navigate directly to the parts of the iDrive's infotainment screen that you use the most — radio, media, telephone, the central menu and things like that. On the latest models — including the 3 Series , 5 Series and 8 Series — the top of the iDrive scroller also has an integrated touchpad that allows you to write in letters inputing a postcode, say with your finger.

It's clever but, unless you're left-handed, also a tricky procedure you'll more than likely give up on as the novelty quickly wears off. Add and manage your vehicles and save configurations. Access all online services, including Connected Drive. Monitor your online orders. BMW Models. Discover all models. BMW 1 Series Petrol. Build and Price Reserve Now Show more. Build and Price Show more. BMW Z4 Petrol. BMW X2 Petrol. BMW X4 Petrol.

Show more. BMW i Vision Circular. Current Offers. Digital Services. Financial Services. New Vehicles. Electromobility Electromobility. But as with any new technology, once you get used to how the system works, and as BMW has developed iDrive over time, it soon becomes second nature. On the whole, users of iDrive are likely to spend less time distracted by the system than they would with a touchscreen set-up.

In time, BMW developed the iDrive system to become more user-friendly, adding shortcut keys around the rotary controller, while voice control has added another level of user-friendliness to the system.

The latest version of BMW iDrive in its simplest form features a rotary controller that rotates clockwise and anti-clockwise, can be moved forwards, backwards, left and right, and presses down like a computer mouse to select an option. On more advanced versions of iDrive, the top of the control wheel also doubles as a touchpad for writing characters, although this only works well in a right hand-drive car if you're left-handed or dexterous enough to write characters clearly with your left hand — otherwise you might be better off with the voice control system instead.

As well as the rotary controller, there's a group of buttons at its base that are shortcut keys to sections of the iDrive system. These can send you straight to navigation , audio, telephone and car set-up screens without having to navigate back to the home screen — although there's also a shortcut to get you straight back there. Press these buttons, and the display on the centre console will switch to the selected option, allowing you to use the iDrive controller to scroll up and down to select your preferred option.

Selecting these is likely to offer up more sub-menus, and while it might be easy to get lost within the menus, it's good to know the shortcut buttons are there to get you back to the start if necessary. When you have the navigation selected, the iDrive controller allows you to zoom in and out of the map, while sliding the controller from side-to-side will allow you to look at your surroundings.

You can change your settings here at any time. BMW in your country. The new generation of BMW iDrive takes the interaction between driver and vehicle on a new level. A user experience based on natural dialogues and functions tailored to needs and preferences with an interface that is aesthetically pleasing, rich in detail design, and fits in neatly with the geometric structures of the analogue elements.

Floating boundaries between digital and analogue worlds. The right information in the right place at the right time. An all-encompassing driving experience for the senses.